FORESIGHT REPORT ON EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AND INNOVATIONS THAT CAN CONTRIBUTE TOWARDS ACHIEVING MORE EFFICIENT, INCLUSIVE, RESILIENT AND SUSTAINABLE, AGRI-FOOD SYSTEMS

FOR THE FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANISATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS (FAO)

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) aims to apply four cross-cutting/cross-sectional “accelerators”: technology, innovation, data and complements (governance, human capital, and institutions) in all its programmatic interventions to contribute to the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-2031.

The application of foresight which is expected to contribute to how the technology and innovation accelerators can be leveraged to contribute to transformational change is being carried out by the UNESCO Chair in this project. The outcome is a report on emerging technologies and innovations that can contribute towards achieving more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable, agri-food systems.

PERSONNELS

 

 

 

 

Professor Sohail Inayatullah

Principal Researcher

UNESCO Chair in Futures Studies: Anticipation for Sustainability and Wellbeing, IIUM

 

 

 

Dr Ivana Milojević

Technical Expert

Director, Metafuture




Hafeez Zainal Abidin

Research Assistant

Sejahtera Centre for Sustainability and Humanity, IIUM

EXPERT WORKSHOP

On April 12 and 13, 2022, a two-day workshop on ‘Creating Alternative and Preferred Futures in Agrifood Systems’ was organised virtually where global experts met over two days in April to explore the implications of emerging technologies and social innovations on food and agrifood systems.

Along with UNESCO Chair Professor Sohail Inayatullah, participants from IIUM included Idayu Iskandar, Hafeez Zainal, and Professor Tengku Haziyamin.

Workshop Leader: Professor Sohail Inayatullah (UNESCO Chair in Futures Studies, IIUM)

Report Writer: Dr. Ivana Milojevic (Representative from Metafuture, UNESCO Chair partner)

Organiser: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

Among the key conclusions of the workshop were:

“Experts were clear that major disruptions in new technologies and social innovation are coming. Indeed, there is an avalanche of change on its way. What FAO and other international organizations can do is guide these changes toward greater equity and distribution. They can warn of potential dangers, guide toward more equitable futures, and through partnerships create food futures that nourish people and planet: one for all: all for one.“

A draft scenario diagram from the pre-workshop meeting includes four scenarios.